Afterthought
by Dynnzel
Summary: Optimus Prime is long gone, but the universe continues to turn for the rest of Transformers. War is not so easily left behind.


With the passing of Optimus Prime, the only thing that kept the team from falling apart completely was the prospect of a new future. The first thing they began to repair were the deep space communication towers. They had to reach out to the refugees of tragedy, to let them know that hope had not died in vain. Despite constant reminding that Bumblebee was not trying to be a leader, he found himself being the final opinion on several matters. He did his best to settle matters but he was starting to feel like none of his decisions were ever good enough. Frustration bubbled just underneath everyone's hoods, there was so much to repair and not enough abled minds and bodies to do it in a timely fashion. Everyone simply wanted to leave the war behind as quickly as possible. Bumblebee felt that rebuilding would only be the start of the healing process. The newly knighted warrior idled along one of the back roadways. It had used to be a main transportation line but had been smashed at too many points to be useful anymore. Bumblebee preferred going on these long scouting ventures, partly to make sure no mischief was afoot, partly so that he could get away from all the chat with Ultra Magnus. When he passed a few working class Decepticons, they stopped their survey and watched him carefully. It was as if they were waiting for him to hit them or something. Now that Bumblebee thought of it, he'd lost count of how many times he alone had bowled through a group of them. Gears turned with a burst of energy and his engine rumbled with speed at his whim, scattering iron filings all across the road. The sky above roiled with restlessness, a possible electrical storm brewing on the horizon. Light finally graced Cybertron with its presence as the energon reservoirs bubbled to full capacity. Some of these canyons were damaged by war and time, so spilled their precious contents in massive glowing rivers across the landscape. Bumblebee grunted when his tires hit a rather large crack in the road. Prompted by the painful jolt, the young warrior to transform and continue on foot. This portion of the road on the outer city limits was completely demolished. Massive sections jutted up against the sky like gravestones for the fallen. A flash of blue metal caught his optic and he found Arcee sitting just off of the freeway, stabilizing servos dangling over the edge. She looked up when he approached, greeting him with a smile, however her optics betrayed her true feelings. "How's the patrol?" she asked casually. "Quiet... not sure if I like that or not." his voice squeaked a bit at the end of his sentence, he still wasn't used to responding properly. Bumblebee followed her gaze to the plains that was still spitting up shoots of colored light. "He's still burning." He felt pain ripple across his spark, he didn't like seeing Arcee like this. She cared the most for all of them. With each loss in her life the femme seemed to retreat further and further into her thoughts. "Uh... did you see Wheeljack and Bulkhead off?" She nodded without looking at him, "They went into the upper atmosphere to fix some deep space satellites." "Good... good." Bumblebee shifted from one foot to the other. He made an offer for her to join his patrol but she took a rain check, saying she needed some quiet. The mech took the hint and continued on his way. Pieces of rust and rubble scattered out of the giants way as he slid down to the second level of road since it seemed a bit more in tact. From time to time he came across the remains of a Transformer, whether they were autobot or decepticon he couldn't always tell. It made him think that death made them all anonymous and forgotten. His armor rattled as he shook off a chill. He suddenly wished he hadn't watched so many scary movies with the children. The air suddenly shifted with the beating of wings. Bumblebee tensed instinctively and bolted for the nearest cover, kneeling just out of sight. From the wingbeats themselves he could tell it was only one predacon, they beat too fast for it to be Predaking so it was either Dreadwing or Skylinx. That was the only crack in foundation for a better future. Shockwave was still out there somewhere, influencing and creating more of these beasts. Predaking had helped them out of necessity in the final battle, who knows what the young entity's intentions for the long term were for. While the predacons had a respect for boundries so long as you showed them you could match their strength, if they were wild like the animals back on Earth, it would only be a matter of time before they demanded more territory, or be played in a game by Shockwave's hand. Bumblebee continued to listen, a loud thud and the scattering of rocks sounded. Snuffling followed closely and a very loud expulsion of dust (or a sneeze as a human would call it). Bumblebee risked a peek around the boulder to find Skylynx sniffing amidst the dirt. The winged beasts' optics narrowed and a low growl rippled through the air. Bumblebee ducked out of sight when the other's gaze passed in his direction. When he peered back he saw the tips of Skylynx's wingtips disappear over the side. A more thorough search revealed nothing more than the fact that Skylynx had continued on foot, searching for whatever was on his mind. Bumblebee weighed the benefit of following the beast and decided he didn't feel like disturbing the silence today. Somewhere below Bumblebee's feet was the sound of massive gears shifting against each other with difficulty. The sky grumbled its displeasure. "It's going to be a long road." Bumblebee sighed. 


End file.
